


The Path Runs Straight and High

by faeleverte



Series: A Pirate and Mercenary Love Story [2]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Asexual Character, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Fluff, Genderqueer Character, Love, Other, and the kind of romance we expect out of these two, suggestions of mild violence
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-01-03
Updated: 2015-01-03
Packaged: 2018-03-05 02:17:31
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,607
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3101606
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/faeleverte/pseuds/faeleverte
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p><i>Set a few months after the events of <a href="http://archiveofourown.org/works/2419433/chapters/5352275">A Pirate and A Mercenary Walk Into A Bar (A Love Story)</a>.</i><br/> </p><p> </p><p>Nick screws up. Badly. </p><p>To fix things between himself and Zeg, he'll <i>actually</i> have to verbalize the promise he's already spent months trying to keep.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Path Runs Straight and High

**Author's Note:**

> Seems that the wrath of the Gods  
> Got a punch on the nose and it started to flow;  
> I think I might be sinking.  
> Throw me a line if I reach it in time  
> I'll meet you up there where the path  
> Runs straight and high.
> 
> -Led Zeppelin, _Going to California_

Nick held his breath as he carefully turned the keys in the locks, trying desperately to keep the sounds of them from clattering in the room beyond. He pitched his voice low as he cleared the voice imprint on the final lock ( _God, I love you, you stubborn ass._ ) making certain the sound wouldn’t be heard through the door. The final lock read his palm print and his dna profile, and the latch was barely audible as it released and the door swung silently open to show the flickering firelight that provided heat to the shabby, dark little flat beyond.

In spite of his attempts at silence, Zeg was awake, every line of their body sharp and alert in the dim light. They stood on the bed, one bare foot braced on top of the headboard, ready to leap to the window should escape be required. Their trim little Sig was aimed at the door, held easily in an unwavering grip, both of their slender hands keeping it level. Nick hesitated, looking down the barrel of the gun, knowing that the sleek little thing packed one _helluva_ punch: Nick had, more than once, considered mentioning that similarity between the pistol and Zeg, but his well-developed sense of self-preservation reminded him not to say it out loud. 

“Baby?” Nick carefully raised his hands up near his face. “Just me. I’m home.”

Only one baleful eye was visible under the cheekbone-dusting cascade of their sleep-tousled black hair, and Nick’s fingers itched to push the dark strands back so he could see _both_ eyes. Instead of the over-long silk robe that Nick walked in expecting to see wrapped around their narrow frame, they were wearing a ratty old t-shirt that was stretched out, leaving acres of pale skin showing at the neck. Nick briefly considered climbing onto the bed and attaching his teeth to that expanse of throat, but he was not entirely convinced that Zeg was awake enough to have realized what was happening. Asleep Zeg could pretend to be terrifyingly alert and _would_ shoot first and examine the body after the sun had been up for a few hours.

Dragging his eyes away from the the soft spot beneath their jaw, Nick found himself staring at the bottom of the shirt. _That_ view only made his growing urge to touch harder to resist.

The hem barely covered the waistband of the silky-knit boxer-briefs Zeg wore only under their tailored suits, giving Nick one breathless mental image of what might have been, earlier that evening, while he was still away, not yet home to enjoy the view. Zeg in their black three-piece with a brilliant tie and sleeked-back hair, face free of makeup but still radiant, beautiful, perfect. Jerking his mind back to the sight in front of him, Nick let his eye trail down further, below the hem of their undergarment, where miles of thin-but-muscular legs reflected the golden glow of the fire, looking like alabaster or living marble.

Nick’s breath hitched as he stared up at Zeg, and his heart gave a strange, nearly-painful thump when he recognized the shirt they wore as one of his own: the one he’d worn the first night they’d met in that shitty little bar which only kept a single decent bottle of scotch. 

“Nicholas!” Zeg’s fingers fumbled the safety of their pistol as they bounced their way over the mattress. Their landing was silent when they jumped off the bed, but the gun clattered as it was dropped haphazardly on the nightstand, already forgotten as Zeg’s focus sharpened on Nick. “My god! We could have killed you! Why didn’t you call us? Tell us you were coming _home_?”

Nick peeled off his short leather coat, dropping it on the floor as his arms greedily reached out for Zeg’s long, thin form. He ached with his need to hold them, the desperate loneliness he’d fought to ignore for more than two weeks clawing at his throat, stinging his eye with tears he’d never allow to fall. Suddenly they were within arms’ reach, and his fingers were soaking in the heat of their bony hips. Before he could draw them close, their arm snaked out, hand a dim blur in the shadowy firelight. 

_Crack!_

His head snapped back as their palm made contact with his cheek. The strike was not hard enough to hurt, but it carried a reminder of violence, of their potential for violence. It reminded Nick that Zeg’s past was soaked in blood, and that the still-new, growing gentleness between the two of them sprouted from fragile roots. Six months of Nick loving them couldn’t possibly have eased five decades of abandonment, danger, and passion that came from physical compatibility but lacked emotional depth.

“You utter fool!” Zeg’s throaty growl was thick, choked and angry. “You stupid, careless _monster_! You useless, hopeless, _asshole_ of lying, sneaking…” They ran out of English and reverted to the choked half-syllables that meant all four of the languages they considered their _native tongue_ were spilling out at once, emotion overriding thought. 

Zeg’s hands came up to clutch at the front of the shirt Nick wore, pulling him close and crushing themself against his chest. They ducked to fit their face against his neck, still snarling angrily, the occasional whole word that came out making Nick oddly grateful for how much he _didn’t_ understand. Nick held them close, nuzzling into their fragrant hair and shushing them, hands sweeping up and down their spine as guilt pooled in his gut. 

They shivered against him, curses fading into silence after a moment. Several deep, shaky breaths later, Zeg finally spoke coherently, words muffled against Nick’s shoulder. 

“How could you, Nicholas? How could you do that to us? You say you love us, but then you...”

“I’m sorry, baby.” He cupped the back of their head in his palm, thumb stroking down the side of their neck. Even as angry as they were, he felt the goosebumps rise under the touch. “I _do_ love you. I didn’t mean to frighten you.”

“You did, though.” Zeg pushed a step away, and Nick could see the sparkle of unshed tears in their eyes. “We came home and you were gone. No note. No call. None of our people gone with you. Had we not gotten that _stupid_ text, we would have not known you were _alive_.”

Nick had no rebuttal for that; it was the truth. He pulled them close again, kissing the corner of their eye and tasting salt. Zeg dissolved in his arms at the brush of his lips, crumpling against his chest, burying their face against his neck. Their hands clutched hard at his biceps as they began to cry in earnest. Nick ignored the dampness on his own cheeks as he folded them into his arms, hugging them harder still. His own hands began shaking as he suddenly understood the damage he’d done to his lover and the relationship.

The realization left him breathless, half-panicked from fear that he’d broken it permanently.

“You promised, Nick.” Zeg whispered, nosing at Nick’s earlobe. He felt the hot brush of their lips against the side of his neck. “You _promised_ you would not go out alone again, not after the warehouse.” Their arms slid around his back, and their fingertips dug into the spaces between his ribs, pressing hard enough to leave bruises. “And then you were just _gone_ , and no one could find you. More than a _week_ passed before you thought to send us a single _text message_ to tell us where you were. Nine days we had to wait to find out why you’d left.”

“Baby,” Nick’s own hands dug into their back then, as if he was trying to meld the two of them together. He kissed their hair, their ear, their jaw. “Baby, shhh. It’s okay now. I’m back. I just had to run an errand.”

Zeg’s head came up with flashing eyes and twisted lips.

“Purchasing milk is an errand, Nicholas. Collecting the dry cleaning is an _errand_.” Zeg stepped back to slap Nick hard on the shoulder. “Hell, driving across town to shoot someone in the back could probably be considered an errand for we two!” They smacked his arm again. “Flying a _goddamned rescue helicopter_ in the _motherfucking Alps_ is _not_ an errand. You selfish, thoughtless, cruel _bastard!_ There were… Sometimes it seemed...” They took a wavering breath, closing their eyes for a long moment. When they looked up again, their dark eyes were cold and angry. “I thought you had left me, you _bastard_!” 

They slapped his shoulder again, and he allowed it; it was the least he deserved. How could he have not seen that his running out without warning would be seen as a betrayal? An abandonment? Zeg was not equipped for patience, trust, or faith. Nick had left knowing he would return, but Zeg had never had a promise kept before; and… Nick wasn’t sure he’d ever actually given them his word. 

That was the most unacceptable oversight of Nick’s life and there was really only one solution.

“I hate you,” Zeg announced calmly, interrupting Nick’s train of thought. He felt sick, even though he was reasonably certain Zeg didn’t mean the words. They stabbed deep, sharper than any knife or bullet that had ever pierced his skin. “I hate you and your perfect face and your hands that make me feel so goddamned _wanted_. I hate that you can make me hurt like this. I hate that… I hate that I thought I had _lost_ you. Nick, you can’t… you just _can’t_ do that to me again. I need… I need to _know_ , Nick!”

Zeg melted easily into Nick’s chest when he caught their hip, pulled them close, and kissed their tear-streaked face. They kissed back eagerly as his lips found theirs, nipping at his mouth as he tried apologize again, explain himself, sooth Zeg’s bruised heart and battered feelings, all with action instead of words. Their thin fingers smoothed over his scalp, pulling his face closer as their lips parted to let their tongue brush against his. The taste of them released the tension he was carrying in his shoulders, and he took a deep breath, nose still pressed to their cheek, eyes still tightly closed.

Sighing, he nuzzled back in to again cover their lips with his own.

 _I had to go. There wasn’t time to wait for you._ He hoped they could sense his meaning in the way his fingertip traced their sharp cheekbone. _There was a life only I could save. Duty had to come first._ His other hand slid across the back of their narrow waist, rucking up the shirt enough that his thumb made contact with the smooth skin of their back. _I hated going, and I hated knowing you would be upset. I wish you were angry instead of hurt. I feel like an ass, and I’m not sure I can forgive myself for putting that look in your eyes._

Nick broke the kiss just enough to speak against their lips. “I’ll always come back, baby.” He closed his eyes to keep the tears from slipping free. “I promise you, Z. For the rest of my life, I’m yours. Only yours. And I will _always_ come home to you.”

His head cracked against the door behind him before he registered being shoved, and Zeg was instantly halfway across the room, eyes wide in the dark. They edged back further, hands twisting in the tatty hem of their shirt, pulling it lower, as if to hide under it.

“What?” Their voice was flat, all emotion intentionally removed; their unwillingness to show what they were thinking was their biggest tell. Zeg only ever tried to hide their warmer, softer emotions, afraid of having such things used against them. “What are you… What do you…”

“Always, baby.” He shoved one hand in his pocket to keep from reaching for them, wanting them to understand that they were still safe around him, that he would not _intentionally_ hurt them. Ever. Zeg’s retreat slowed but didn’t stop.

Nick reached up to rub at the developing knot on the back of his head with the other hand. Zeg’s eyes followed the gesture, and they flinched, trying and failing to squash a flash of guilt. It was enough reaction for Nick to read that they _did_ care. That they were angry, but not so far gone as to have turned against him. Nick took a deep breath and resumed speaking, forcing out words he’d thought-- in the dark with Zeg sleeping warm and soft in his arms-- but had never gotten brave enough to voice. 

“I'm promising you always, baby. I’d… I’d ask you to marry me, if I could. I can’t imagine how we could make it work, since I’m dead and you don’t exist, legally speaking. But I would stand up in front of anyone and promise you.”

“You… We…” Zeg had backed up far enough that they stumbled against the edge of the bed and sat down hard on the edge of the mattress. They closed their eyes for a moment, hands folding primly in their lap. After a long moment during which Nick’s lungs forgot how to move air, they finally looked back up. “What? What are you saying to me?”

Nick crossed the room slowly, hands held loosely to his sides to show he wasn’t a threat. He could see Zeg tremble in the flicker of firelight on their hair, in the way they clenched their hands together, fingers twisted into a white-knuckled grip. Once he was close enough to touch them, he reached down to cover their folded hands with one of his. Their lips parted around a gasp as he dropped to his knees in front of them, and the wondering look that flashed into their eyes drowned out the ache in his joints as he landed on the small rug beside the bed.

“Baby,” his thumb traced restless patterns against the thin skin of their inner wrist. “I can’t do this the traditional way. And I’m sorry. It’s one more thing I _can’t_ offer you. But... “ He swallowed hard and looked up into their eyes, wide and unreadable in the dimness of the room. His spare hand clutched at their smooth, bare leg. “Baby, if you’ll have me, I’m offering you my word. Everything I am, everything I have. Yours. For the rest of my life.”

Zeg’s breath hitched, and their hands twisted to clutch his fingers, trembling grip knuckle-crushingly intense. The sparkle of their eyes dimmed behind a sea of tears, and one drop slid free, glittering and diamond-like against their flawless cheek.

“We don’t know who is the bigger fool here,” they said huskily. They cleared their throat and their lips started to twitch with humor, even as another tear escaped. No matter how much Zeg pretended to be opposed to sentimentalism, they were really a giant sap. But they were Nick's giant sap, and they were beautiful. “But yes, love. Yes, we… I want that. All of that. All of you. And… the same. We are yours.”

Nick shoved himself stiffly to his feet, blindly drawing Zeg up with him as his vision blurred and began to run. He found their neck through muscle memory alone and crashed both of their mouths together gracelessly. Zeg began laughing in moments, and Nick found himself breathless, grinning and unable to kiss properly through his happiness.

“Always, baby,” Nick whispered against Zeg’s neck as their arms slid around his shoulders to hug him fiercely. “For always. Promise.”

**Author's Note:**

> This was to have been a New Year's present for all of you who love Nick and Zeg. But... I kinda got the flu instead of the writing bug. So I'm late.
> 
> Thanks to [Kathar](http://archiveofourown.org/users/Kathar/pseuds/Kathar) for the turbo beta. I screwed around with it MUCH after she read it, so all remaining errors are mine and mine alone. I hope they're not too glaring. 
> 
> Do come visit me at [faeleverte](http://faeleverte.tumblr.com) on Tumblr! 
> 
> As ever, thank you for reading, and I would love to hear what you think of it. Kudos are dearly loved, and comments are obsessively read and reread on the rough days.


End file.
